Method of manufacturing metal wheels



(No Model.)

J. R. LITTLE. METHOD OF MANUFAGTURING METAL WHEELS.

No. 487,283. Patented Dec. 6, 1892.

NITED STATES union.

PATENT JAMES R. LITTLE, OF QUINCY, ILLINOIS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,283, dated December 6, 1892.

Application filed February 24, 1892. Serial No. 422,703. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES R. LITTLE, of Quincy, in the county of Adams, and in the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Manufacturing Metal Wheels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference be ing had to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the hub portion of a metal wheel constructed after my improved method. Fig. 2 is a like view of the hub before the spokes are secured in position. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the tenon end of a spoke and of a thimble employed for combining the same with a hub. Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a section of the hub upon a line passing circumferentially through the line of spokes and thimbles and a section upon a .line passing lengthwise through said hub; and Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view showing the threaded thimble and spoke construction, to be described hereinafter.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of the figures.

My invention relates to the manufacture of metal wheels; and it consists in the method employed for securing the spokes to the hub, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter specified.

In the carrying of my invention into practice I construct a hub A from cast-iron, malleable iron, steel, or other like metal, and at equidistant points around the periphery provide recesses or sockets a and a, which are preferably round, but may have any other form desired. Each socket has an increase of diameter from its outer end inward and preferably is deeper at its sides than nearer its center. At the center of said socket there is preferably provided a cylindrical recess a, that has such diameter as to adapt it to receive the inner end or tenon b of a spoke B.

As a means for combining the spoke B with the hub A, I employ a thimble O, which is constructed from malleable iron, steel, or other similar metal in the general form of a cylinder. Interiorly the thimble is adapted to be passed over the inner end b of said spoke, while exteriorly it has such size and shape as to enable it to be placed within and to loosely fill one of the sockets a, and at its lower end is provided with an outward annular projection or lip c, as shown. The thimble thus constructed is placed within a socket, a spoke is placed within the thimble, and by suitable mechanism the latter is then compressed laterally and longitudinally inward until it firmly embraces the spoke and its lower end is expanded and caused to closely fill the socket, by which means said spoke is so firmly combined with said hub as to enable it with safety to withstand any strain to which it would ordinarily be subjected.

If desired, the thimble may be compressed upon the spoke before being expanded into the hub and may be heated before compression, so as to add the effect of the shrinkage of the metal in cooling to the pressure produced by its compression. The hub may also be heated before the thimble is expanded into its socket, and by its shrinkage increase the pressure upon said thimble.

While the thimbles are preferably secured upon the spokes by compression, they may be combined therewith by means of a peripheral thread upon the spoke and an internal thread in the thimble.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. As an improvement in the manufacture of metal wheels, the method employed for combining a spoke with a hub, which consists in securing upon the inner end of a spoke a metal thimble and compressing said thimble longitudinally until its inner end is caused to closely fill a peripheral socket that is formed within a hub, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. As an improvement in the manufacture of metal wheels, the method employed for combining a spoke with a hub, which consists in securing a metal thimble by lateral compression upon the inner end of a spoke and by the longitudinal compression of such thimble causing its inner end to expand into and to [ill a peripheral socket that is formed within a hub, substantially as and for the purpose shown.

3. As an improvement in the manufacture of metal wheels, the method employed for combining a spoke with a hub, which consists in securing upon the inner portion of the spoke a metal thimble, inserting such thimble Within a peripheral socket in the hub and the projecting inner end of said spoke into a recess in the bottom of such socket and expanding the inner end of said thimble until it closely fills said socket, substantially as and for the purpose shown and described.

4. As an improvement in the manufacture of metal wheels, the method employed for combining a spoke'with a h ub, which consists in securing a heated metal thimble by lateral compression upon the inner end of a spoke and by the longitudinal compression of such thimble causing its inner end to expand into and to fill a peripheral socket that is formed Within a hub, substantially as and for the purpose shown.

5. As an improvement in the manufacture of metal wheels, the method employed for combining aspoke with a hub, which consists in securing upon the inner end of a spoke a metal thimble and compressing said thimble longitudinally until its inner end is caused to closely fill a peripheral socket that is formed Within a heated hub, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of January, 1892.-

JAMES R. LITTLE.

Vitnesses:

S. DEIDESHEIMER, S. M. WALLAcE. 

